The toy makers of Chenghai

The news from China is of manufacturing industry in trouble, factories closing down in their thousands, tens of millions of migrant workers out of work. But a closer look at Chenghai in Guangdong province, one of the centres of Chinese toy making, reveals a different story

It was an April mid-morning and the streets of Chenghai were humming with activity. Auto rickshaws zigzagged against the flow of traffic, motorbikes carried gravity-defying pyramids of parcels, open-topped vans overflowed with toy parts, and huge lorries were piled high with boxes for the neighbouring port or delivery across China. This administrative district of Shantou town at the eastern extremity of Guangdong province had been bustling since daybreak. The frenzied activity continued until dusk (which falls at around six), but it let up during the lunch break, from 11.30 to 1.30, often the time for a siesta. Thousands of workers then appeared and wandered off in small groups to hang out in shopping centres, sit and eat on boxes or benches, doze under the shade of a tree or play cards and dice.

During working hours they disappeared again, and it was hard to find a factory worker on the streets, or even that common sight in China: job seekers with cardboard panels showing their trades around their necks or tied to bicycle handlebars or just placed in front of them on street corners. Chenghai specialises in manufacturing children’s toys, which government officials say is the industry most affected by the global economic crisis. Officially, there are 3,000 toy factories in Chenghai; unofficially, the figure is three to four times higher.

A young woman appeared around a corner with a baby in her arms. She was wearing typical factory workers’ clothes – a pair of faded jeans, a cheap jacket, a cotton t-shirt, trainers of some unknown Chinese brand. “I’m not working at the moment because I’m minding my six-month old daughter,” she explained. Her name was Mei Lan, and she was a migrant worker from a village in Guangxi province. “My husband’s working, of course,” she continued. “I’ll have no problem finding a job again. The factories in the region need workers so badly that they don’t mind if mothers bring their children to work. Right now I prefer to look after her myself, but (...)